A CRISTATE PELLAEA. 
BY WILLIAM TRELEASE. 
On the limestone rocks of the Meramec river region in 
eastern Missouri, Pellaea atropurpurea is a very common 
fern, and although the young fronds are markedly different 
from the mature fronds and the latter present a considerable 
range of variation, it is one of the best characterized ferns, 
as indeed is the case elsewhere in the State and through- 
out its range. In 1899, however, my attention was called 
to a plant discovered near Eureka by Mr. Gustavus Pauls, 
which differs from all forms of this species that I have thus 
far seen in the remarkable cristate deformity of its fronds, 
and as Mr. Pauls has since discovered other specimens of 
the same form, which maintains its characters,— as with the 
cristates of various other ferns in cultivation,— it appears 
worthy of a name and may be characterized as follows :— 
PELLAEA ATROPURPUREA CRISTATA, N. Var. 
Habit of the normal form: fronds 6-8 in. high, mostly 
bipinnate below, nearly all of the pinnae, pinnules and 
lobes dichotomous, the segments cristately clustered towards 
the apex of the fronds and their upper lobes.— Plate 34. 
Eureka, Mo., on limestone. G. Pauls. 1899. 
Separates issued April 6, 1901. 
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